Mediocre strawberries (and other fruit) improver

By stancec44

All you’ve got to do to rescue mediocre berries from their own mediocrity? Add a little sugar and salt!

Ingredients

• Berries or stone fruits
• Salt
• Sugar

Details

Adapted from bonappetit.com

Preparation

Step 1

Wash your strawberries, cut them, and hit them with a pinch of salt and a couple good three-finger pinches of granulated sugar, give them a little tossy-toss, and watch them magically start to darken and get extra juicy. The additional sugar supplements whatever natural sweetness the strawberries might be lacking, and helps to draw out their juices to form a tasty, ruby red syrup. And the salt, which may seem like a wildcard in a sweet preparation, actually does exactly what it does in savory applications—it makes the strawberries taste more, which is especially welcome in a situation when they don't taste like all that much. Magically, what were once ho-hum berries start to taste...actually awesome!


But folks, it doesn’t stop with strawberries! This same little one-two punch of a flavor enhancer can be applied to any berry that could use a little pick me up. Raspberries. Blackberries. Blueberries. You name it! It even works with stone fruits like peaches, plums, and nectarines. To be quite honest, you’d be hard-pressed to find anything that couldn’t benefit from a little hit of salt and sugar.